Reality is being redefined in many aspects of Australian life, especially for indigenous Australians. Since Tony Abbott declared himself the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and put the Federal Indigenous Affairs Office under his own Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMC), it has become unclear to many Aboriginal people how they have gained from the change.
When I studied theology, there was one concept that seemed to take so long to understand: People need their reality confirmed and not denied. The example used by my Columban missionary lecturer was from Peru, but examples of the denial and the rewriting of reality abound in Australia – currently and historically – in regard to its First Nations people.
In February, after presenting the Closing the Gap report, a ‘profoundly disappointed’ Prime Minister asserted, ‘We must strive and strive again to ensure that the first Australians never again feel like outcasts in their own country.’
The very next month Aboriginal Communities throughout South Australia were informed they had been ‘successful’ in their funds application (yes, that was the word used by officials from the PMC). Their success had been in attaining just 10 per cent or less of the funds needed to administer the communities and provide the programs which make them viable.
July 1st is the beginning of these new budget allocations, or lack thereof, under the title of Indigenous Advancement Strategy. As one of the Aboriginal CEOs summarised in terms of the real world, ‘I don’t think the Government under the new Indigenous ADVANCEMENT strategy is really interested in Aboriginal Advancement.’
On April 13th, after months of negotiations, the Federal and SA State Governments finally reached a more reasonable compromise regarding the MUNS (Municipal and Essential Services) funding issue for power, water, sewerage and other essential services on SA Aboriginal Communities. But obviously, to survive, a Community cannot just be a place where essential services are available.
In the early 90s, I lived in the Far West of SA Community of Yalata, 1000 km northwest of Adelaide. Yalata has suffered so greatly from displacement and from the inter-generational health effects of the Maralinga British nuclear testing in the 50s and 60s. However the Community currently provides many programs: women’s services, community landscaping, youth work and training, mail collection, an internet centre, community administration, night patrol, building crew and land management.
Under the IAS allocations, only the night patrol and a homework project were funded. The decision to